Mawon
Encyclopedia
Mawon is the Haitian Kreyòl
word for maroon
, meaning "escaped slave".
The French encountered many forms of slave resistance during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The African slaves that fled to remote mountainous areas were called mawon. The mawon formed close-knit communities which practiced small-scale agriculture and hunting. Mawons were known for sneaking back to their plantations to free family members and friends. They also joined the Taino
settlements on a few occasions, who escaped the Spanish in the seventeenth century. Certain mawon factions became formidable enough that they made treaties with local colonial authorities, sometimes negotiating their own independence in exchange for helping to hunt down other escaped slaves.
Other slave resistance efforts against the French plantation system were more direct. The mawon leader Mackandal led an unsuccessful movement to poison the drinking water of the plantation owners in the 1750s. Another mawon named Boukman declared war on the French plantation owners in 1791, sparking off the Haïtian Revolution
.
Haitian Creole language
Haitian Creole language , often called simply Creole or Kreyòl, is a language spoken in Haiti by about twelve million people, which includes all Haitians in Haiti and via emigration, by about two to three million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, France, Cayman Islands, French...
word for maroon
Maroon (people)
Maroons were runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America, who formed independent settlements together...
, meaning "escaped slave".
The French encountered many forms of slave resistance during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The African slaves that fled to remote mountainous areas were called mawon. The mawon formed close-knit communities which practiced small-scale agriculture and hunting. Mawons were known for sneaking back to their plantations to free family members and friends. They also joined the Taino
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
settlements on a few occasions, who escaped the Spanish in the seventeenth century. Certain mawon factions became formidable enough that they made treaties with local colonial authorities, sometimes negotiating their own independence in exchange for helping to hunt down other escaped slaves.
Other slave resistance efforts against the French plantation system were more direct. The mawon leader Mackandal led an unsuccessful movement to poison the drinking water of the plantation owners in the 1750s. Another mawon named Boukman declared war on the French plantation owners in 1791, sparking off the Haïtian Revolution
Haïtian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...
.